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Lutfur’s Tory defector and an email full of lies

On July 4, I reported here that then Tower Hamlets Tory councillor Maium Miah (Millwall) had joined Mayor Lutfur Rahman and his supporters for an away day to Leicester. The next day, he sent a begging email to his concerned party bosses in Mulberry Place. Yesterday, I said he had explained his actions by telling Peter Golds he’d been duped and that it had all been a big mistake.

Well, here is that email, the explanation straight from the horse’s mouth:

To be honest,

Few friends mislead me and took me with them, saying that they are going to a trip to Leicester so I went. When i saw Lutfur & co I was shock myself but couldn’t do much.

But i can assure you i did not take any part what so ever campaigning for labour. I and other few stayed away from campaigning, instead we went to the local mosque & shopping area, not to the mosque Lutfur visited.

I heard from people that time, kith vath made a comment about Tory Cllr defected to labour.

I made a mistake trusting someone which myself and the party paying the price for. It was a complete set up. From the event to the blogs comments.

But i did not defect that time or intend to defect in the future.

The reason I kept quite all this time I thought no one will believe me.

Peter I support the party and will. I always supported the group during all council agenda & will continue to.

There has been lots of pressure from the bang community to support Lutfur for the last budget but I still supported my group, and intend to continue that.

I have been tricked by them to Be expelled so that I join there group which I have no intention to do so.

It’s very hard to explain by email, soon as i return will talk in details

The “kith vath” he refers to is Labour MP Keith Vaz.

It’s difficult to know where to begin with this email. I’m told that while a Tory councillor he was diligent with his surgeries and casework, and that he was also popular on the doorstep. I’m also told that his fellow Tory councillors were very supportive of him: as the lone Bengali Tory member, he had been put under serious pressure by some in the Bengali community.

It could be that that pressure has eventually told. Certainly, Lutfur’s backer Shiraj Haque, who owns the Clifton restaurant and supermarket on Westferry Road on the Isle of Dogs, is known for throwing his weight about (and much more besides).

It could also be that Maium is the latest in a long line of Tower Hamlets politicians who don’t give a hoot about the traditional party system and the policy making process; yet quite happy to pretend otherwise to get themselves elected and pocket the councillor cash.

Perhaps what we’re witnessing here is the disintegration of that system in Tower Hamlets. Lutfur and his followers might well feel they can forget tradition, that maybe they’re in the vanguard of a new grassroots movement that can go it alone. Funding? No problem, we’ve got the likes of Shiraj Haque to help us, might be the mentality. This new crew maybe a Respect Mark II.

How should the main parties respond? Well, here’s a radical thought: clean themselves up, refuse to play these games, stick to consistent and coherent policies, and retain some sort of higher moral ground by making sure those they select for office genuinely believe in what they’re saying. In fact, it is arguable that some who have defected are more principled than the ones they left behind.

The Tory party was desperate for a Bengali face on its council benches to counter the smears thrown at them from the other side of the chamber. In that desperation, the party clearly didn’t vet Maium enough. It would be fascinating to know how much he was grilled at the selection procedure.

Almost every single sentence of Maium’s July 5 email is a bare-faced lie.

Here’s a couple of them again:

…i did not defect that time or intend to defect in the future.

The reason I kept quite all this time I thought no one will believe me.

Peter I support the party and will. I always supported the group during all council agenda & will continue to.

Is a liar fit to be a councillor or be rewarded with a job in the cabinet (at some stage) when he will control millions of pounds of spending?

Here’s another thought: why not force councillors who defect to stand again in a by-election? Yes, there would be costs, but perhaps the shame of billing voters for those costs might be the deterrent.

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21 Responses

I understand that Maium has been a conscientious and loyal Conservative councillor. I do not believe that he spontaneously decided that he was no longer a Conservative. His e-mail of July 5th refers to “…pressure from the Bang community to support Lutfur…”. This needs more investigation – perhaps then we may find out why so many Bangladeshi councillors have made sudden and unexpected decisions to defect to Lutfur in contrast to their previous known political views.

He was turned down as a prospective Labour councillor went to the Tories and was selected. The only scandal here is the Tories having anything to do with him. The reality is the Tower Hamlets is now almost on the brink of being run by a bunch of political opportunists, clerical fascists and corrupt business wallahs. I am waiting for a comment from the radical left who made up Respect who thought that the revolution was just around the corner when they got twelve councillors. How long ago was it?

Imran Khan, you clearly are a solicitor without any work. You seem to have a lot of time on your hands and a quite a lot of local political knowledge, it’s strange that I have not come across you at events or heard of you. As a solicitor you should be aware that using a fake ID is against the law.

It seems to me that you have caught the ‘Peter Golddigger syndrome’. The constant whinging and trying to prove that you know best, especially when trying to be the resident Ted Jeory blogs grammer expert, is all too familiar.

You claim to be a solicitor, if that is true, then you seem to be very narrow minded as all your responses so far have been negative and unconstructive. If you really want to help the community then try and find positive ways to work together and untilise your valuable time constructively for the greater good of the people of this borough. Dirty smear work, lies and being an obstacle for petty political point scoring is definitely not the way forward.

The post from Mini-me has nothing to do with Maium. Millwall voters elected Maium as a Conservative councillor; he professed his support for the Conservatives and his opposition to Lutfur, and was doing a good job. He suddenly chose to leave the Conservatives and join Lutfur. As a Millwall voter, I want an explanation from my elected representative. I don’t give a monkeys about Imran Khan or Mini-me – they are not the people I elected. Maium – explain yourself to your electorate.

Ted, how does Maium statement transpired as lie? I rather find your statement is full of lie and slanderous. I quote “almost every single sentence of Maium’s July 5 email is a bare-faced lie”- this is outrageous. I know you and your right winger one eyed friends are not happy with any success of Mayor Lutfur Rahman but community are, this is what more important for Maium and others.
Maium has been honest all the way. He clearly mentioned in his email that he had enormous pressure from the community to work with the Mayor. If you read his email properly you can find out what message he passed onto Peter. He wanted Peter to be more constructive and stop right wing coalition conspiracy against the Mayor. When he realised Peter is not listening and will never listen as his agenda is not to work for the betterment of the society but to oppose everything Mayor does, he had no choice but stand with people. He visited his ward including church leader yesterday and everyone welcomed his decision. I know you and few right wingers would be happy if he continued this way and undermined the community. But Maium priority is different as he is grass rooted, he can not continue to ignore the community. I am sure if Peter Gold listen to Maium in budget process situation would be different. This is never late – if Tory change the leader (Tim, Zara or David) and start engaging with Mayor, things may settle down.

I know Tower Hamlets politics has divided into two parts in side “A” you have supporter of social justice/truth and development and on the other side “B” you have supporter of lies, dodgy dosser and injustice. Maium clearly does not want to be part “B” anymore, other councillor should follow Maium sooner because community will not forgive anyone supporter of dodgy dossier in next election.

Sigh.
The Tory policy agenda and Lutfur’s are completely different. Even if you take it that Lutfur’s policy agenda is actually a Labour one, then it’s still completely different. Maium stood on a Tory manifesto. He either lied to voters in May 2010, or he’s lying now – because as far as I know, the Tory policy agenda hasn’t changed.

I’ve nothing against grass roots activism at all, but I think it’s disingenuous in the extreme to use a party platform and its manifesto as cover for something else. Don’t you?

@Toby “can’t stand Asians (especially muslims)…..” unless you have concrete evidence of this, I suggest you desist from issuing this sort of smear and hinting at shadowy conspiracies. Otherwise you will get a reputation as a paranoid bigot.

-Ted writes about no one else but Lutfur – kind of obsession really
– Ted never criticise the other two leaders in fact he collaborates with them to attack Lutfur (the only Asian mayor in the UK)
-Peter Golds and his contribution to the Despatches programme potraying Lutfur as a fundamentalist and TH as infiltrated by ‘Muslims’
-Joshu Peck and his collaboration in full council meetings with the Conservative – evidence is in voting patterns and debate support

I’m not paranoid. Very sane in fact. Are you hiding anything? I could go on and continue with a long list of private things Cllr Myum is compiling. But I am assuming revealing this too early will be too damaging for the conservative party and labour

I hear Cllr maium has ‘explosive’ evidence which he will reveal in due course to demonstrate how the local conservative party really operated and what they really think of the local bangladeshi community. I cannot wait!